Film Explores End-of-Life Care and Communication Two Free Screenings of Being Mortal in September

Samaritan Healthcare & Hospice, in collaboration with Mount Laurel Home for Funerals and Aleph Home Care, is offering two free community screenings of the documentary Being Mortal. After each screening, audience members may participate in a guided conversation on communicating wishes about end-of-life goals and preferences with family and health care professionals.

September 8, 2016 at 6:30 PM

Location: Mount Laurel Home for Funerals, 212 Ark Road, Mount Laurel, NJ 08054

RSVP: (856) 234-6900 or mountlaurelhomeforfunerals@comcast.net

September 22, 2016 at 7:00 PM

Location: Jewish Federation of SNJ | Family Activity Center, 1301 Springdale Road,

2nd Floor, Cherry Hill, NJ 08003

RSVP: (856) 552-3258 or ccorti@SamaritanNJ.org

Being Mortal aired nationally on PBS Frontline in February 2015 and was recently nominated by the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences for this year's Emmy Award for Outstanding Informational Programming. The film is adapted from Boston surgeon Atul Gawande’s 2014 nationally best-selling book of the same name.

Being Mortal follows Dr. Gawande as he explores the relationships doctors have with patients who are nearing the end of life. The film investigates the practice of caring for the dying, and shows how doctors are often remarkably untrained and uncomfortable talking about chronic illness and death with their patients. The film also depicts the moving story of Dr. Gawande’s personal experiences with his father who died of cancer.

Being Mortal underscores the importance of people planning ahead and talking with family members about end-of-life decisions. Seventy percent of Americans say they would prefer to die at home, but nearly 70 percent die in hospitals and institutions. Ninety percent of Americans know they should have conversations about end-of-life care, yet only 30 percent have done so.

The free screening is made possible by a grant from The John and Wauna Harman Foundation in partnership with the Hospice Foundation of America which selected Samaritan to coordinate screenings in southern New Jersey.

For more information about the free screenings, contact Christine Corti, Samaritan communications specialist, at 856-552-3258 or ccorti@SamaritanNJ.org or visit SamaritanNJ.org and click on events.

About Samaritan:

Samaritan Healthcare & Hospice is a not-for-profit, non-sectarian, independent organization accredited by The Joint Commission, a member of the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization (NHPCO), and NHPCO’s We Honor Veterans program, created in collaboration with the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). Samaritan is the regional leader for hospice care, palliative (comfort) medicine, grief support and counseling, and end-of-life education, and advocacy. Samaritan serves people in Atlantic, Burlington, Camden, Gloucester, and Mercer counties who are coping with the stresses of aging, serious illness or grief. For more information, visit www.SamaritanNJ.org .

For more information about the film, visit http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/being-mortal/.

For information about the book is at http://atulgawande.com/book/being-mortal/.